A furious finish left Crewe fans celebrating a significant win over stunned promotion-chasers Salford City.

After going toe to toe with Neil Wood's expensively-set up side, sub Stevie Mallan's 85th-minute striker appeared to have consigned the Alex to their first defeat in seven games.

But Lee Bell's men showed they are made of sterner stuff these days and Callum O'Riordan's backheel squared the game up two minutes later (87) before Dan Agyei squeezed the winner into the bottom corner (90) after Alex Cairns had pushed out Elliott Nevitt's blockbuster,

It left Wood bemoaning a series of "schoolboy" errors after his side's hopes of securing automatic promotion in their fourth campaign in League Two.

The Salford boss has assembled a side infused with Premier League academy talent and it showed early on when former Manchester City youngster Luke Bolton gave Rio Adebisi a torrid time down the right flank.

It was Bolton who set up on-loan Aston Villa teenager Louis Barry for a close-range finish for the Ammies' 19th-minute opener.

But Crewe came roaring back and Cairns needed to conjure a smart save to turn Adebisi's set-piece header onto a post before Theo Vassell's late tackle on Elliott Nevitt left referee Ben Speedie with no option but to point to the spot. Agyei converted the penalty past Cairns for the 31st-minute leveller.

The Alex then capitalised on another defensive lapse from Salford with Joel Tabiner seizing on a poor pass and spotting Cairns off his line to loft a stunning finish under the bar in the 40th-minute for his first senior goal.

And the goals kept coming in the first half with an agile finish from Callum Hendry, the son of former Scotland and Blackburn defender Colin. Crewe had their chance to clear the ball after Bolton latched onto a cross from former Nantwich Town defender Ibou Touray and thrashed an effort onto the far post. But Hendry showed good skill to bring the ball down and hook an acrobatic shot past James Beadle into the far corner.

Connor O'Riordan levels in the closing minutes (Picture credit: Kevin Warburton).

After the restart Bolton was thwarted by a good save at his near post from Brighton loanee Beadle.

Then Tabiner was inches away from finding the bottom corner after a jinking run inside the box.

Mallan looked to have secured Salford's win when he cracked a low drive from the edge of the box into the bottom corner in the 85th-minute after being teed up by Bolton.

But Crewe were far from finished and amid a goalmouth melee O'Riordan levelled with a clever backheel before Agyei's fantastic finale saw the striker grab his 12th goal of the season.

With only two defeats in their last 13 games, Crewe appear to have navigated well clear of trouble and even with eight of their last 12 fixtures on the road they should be looking upwards and not downwards.

Alex boss Bell said: "I am delighted for the players to get a win against a very good team. The players are building in terms of robustness after things have gone against us in the last few weeks.

"We were disappointed to concede the first goal, but the lad (Bolton) was like an F1 driving down the wing. We got Rio Adebisi to adjust his angles afterwards and Joel's goal was an unbelievable strike. He showed great technique and he is getting better and better.

"I thought Elliott Nevitt was a presence for us. His first goal will come, but he works so hard, he has a football brain and he was excellent for us. Dan capped it all off and he's getting better as the season goes on and now we want him to get to 15 goals."

Salford manager Wood said: "All four of Crewe's goals were all down to our poor play and our mistakes - they were shocking schoolboy goals to concede. For some reason we wanted to show off to the crowd when players should have been putting the team first.

"Stevie came on and scored a great goal and at 3-2 up you expect the players to manage the game and see it out, but we were caught out again. We made the wrong decision from a corner and the lad backheels it in and for the fourth we get punished for taking too many touches."

Alex fans are ecstatic after O'Riordan's backheel squares the game up (Picture credit: Kevin Warburton).